The Child Status Protection Act (CSPA) was passed to provide relief to children who “age out” as a result of USCIS delays in processing visa petitions. Before CSPA was passed, an application for permanent residency of a child or derivative beneficiary child would be approved only if adjudicated before the child’s 21st birthday. When the child turns 21, the child would be considered as having “aged out” and lose the status of a child. Due to USCIS backlogs and delays, many children aged out before their cases were completed. For applicable cases, CSPA locks in the age of the child at an earlier date in the process and preserves the status of “child” for many individuals who otherwise would “age out.”

Under a recent decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals (In re Rodolfo Avila-Perez, February 9, 2007), it was held that the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) which allows the beneficiary of an immediate relative visa petition to retain his status as a “child” after he turns 21, applies to an individual whose visa petition was approved before the effective date of the Child Status Protection Act (August 6, 2002) but who filed an application for adjustment of status after that date.